The University of Colorado School of Medicine is conducting a national search for a new executive director for its Anschutz Health & Wellness Center. (Photo courtesy Anschutz Health & Wellness Center.)

Anschutz Health and Wellness Center Searches for New Executive Director

The University of Colorado Anschutz Health and Wellness Center is searching for a new executive director.

The previous executive director, James Hill, announced his immediate resignation from the position on March 18, according to a media release from the CU School of Medicine.

“It has been an honor serving in this role over the last four years and I look forward to contributing to the continued success of the center,” Hill said in a statement. “This was a difficult decision, but I feel the need to devote more time to the Colorado Nutrition Obesity Research Center and to my own research in weight management and behavior change."

A committee appointed by School of Medicine Dean John Reilly Jr. will conduct a national search for Hill’s successor. The committee is led by Peter Buttrick, the school’s senior associate dean for academic affairs.

Hill came under scrutiny last year by the New York Times when it was revealed that Coca-Cola donated $1 million to CU Anschutz to help the now-defunct Global Energy Balance Network, a group led by scientists and backed by the soft drink company. Hill, who was the Global Energy Balance Network's president, also accepted $550,000 from Coca-Cola, according to a Denver Post report.

"The GEBN's research and educational efforts are independent and not subject to pre-approval by the Coca-Cola Company," Hill wrote in a statement provided to CNBC in August 2015. "Industry collaboration with higher education is a common practice today, and the University of Colorado has policies and procedures in place that adhere to high standards of professional and ethical conduct."

Located in Aurora, Colorado, the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center offers fitness and health programs that are integrated with scientific research to develop healthy individuals and communities. The center is designed to support collaboration by experts in the fields of nutrition, exercise physiology, obesity and weight management and behavior change, according to the media release.

The center, which was established in 2008 with a gift from The Anschutz Foundation, offers exercise programs, a fitness center, a nutrition lab, cooking classes, a restaurant, seminars, summer camps and worksite wellness programs.